This proposed research involves a continuation of our efforts in the quantification of procedures for the alignment of molecular code sequences, the establishment of the routes of molecular development and an assessment of evolution and function. We offer a theory and algorithm combination for aligning sequences with virtually all assumptions made explicit and selected for their potential for experimental verification. In the further course of this research we shall: 1) define a metric measure of distance between sequences; 2) develop an unambiguous method of constructing tree relations among related sequences and specifying their ancestors; 3) apply these formal measures and techniques to several molecular systems, especially t-RNA, the cytochromes, the hemo- and myo-globins, and the immunoglobins; 4) with the recently completed powerful, formal measures of sequence similarity, delve into the problem of gene duplication, particularly in the globins, ferredoxins and clupeines; 5) assay the validity of alignments performed on ambiguous genetic code sequences and amino acid sequences; 6) develop a formalism for expressing the genetic information associated with the structure of m-RNA.